Throughout the electrical industry ½ inch cadmium bolts, nuts and round washers are standard hardware for power plants, substations, transmission lines, switch yards and distribution systems including switching cabinets (live front and dead front), overhead transformers and pad mount transformers. It is not always convenient or efficient to switch out lines so that a worker can attach a component or otherwise bolt a component in place. Some typical hot line tasks that can preferably be performed without switching out the line include installing jumper paddles to dead end bodies, buss work, tee bodies, etc., installing new line jumpers to existing bus work, removing jumpers to isolate switch gear for maintenance and then reinstalling existing or new jumpers on the energized buss, changing out hot bolts and transmission lines, replacing missing bolts, etc.
Generally, when performing hot line work an electrician/lineman uses various tools, including hot sticks, spring extension sticks, ratchet sticks and various other extension sticks for bolting electrical components in place or connecting electrical components together. As is known in the art, hot sticks and the like are an insulated pole, generally epoxy glass or the like, having a connecter at the distal end. The connector may be changeable and may be a socket or a driver end for engaging a socket. The major problem is that the electrician/lineman must maintain a well known distance in order to safely work on the hot lines and the higher the voltage the farther the electrician must be from the work. Thus, for example, it can be very difficult in many instances to balance a bolt or nut in the hot stick, reach the required distance and engage the nut or bolt with an already positioned bolt or nut. Also, in many instances a washer should be positioned on the bolt before the nut is engaged. A great deal of time and frustrated effort can be expended in this task.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the forgoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved multipurpose socket wrench.